‘Gun boom’ in the US is over, but weapon sales still high

Gun sales in the United States have slipped in 2014 compared to last year, but they’re still higher than at any other point in the last decade.

Over the last three
months, sales at the gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson dropped
23 percent, with profits declining 32 percent compared to the
same quarter in 2013. The news was similar at Sturm, Ruger &
Co., which saw profits shrink 31 percent, and Colt Manufacturing,
where a net loss of $7 million was documented.

According to the Huffington Post, these declines have been
attributed to less intense demand on the part of gun buyers.
Typically, gun sales have spiked in the wake of violent incidents
– the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, for example – as
buyers fear a government crackdown on arms purchases.

For the last seven months, though, that motivation has been
lacking – although RT reported that gun sales did surge near Ferguson,
Missouri, after continued protests over the officer-involved
shooting of teenager Michael Brown.

Government data released earlier this year
also shows that Democratic presidents, in general, tend to boost
gun sales, since they are usually seen as in favor of gun
control.

At the same time, the National Shooting Sports Foundation found
that while the FBI did conduct fewer criminal background checks
on gun buyers this year compared to last, the numbers are still
notably high. So far in 2014, 6.95 million background checks have
been conducted. That’s down from the high of 8.81 million last
year, but it’s still higher than any other year since at least
2005.

“Are consumers buying more guns than last year? No, they are
not,” analyst Andrea James, of the financial services firm
Dougherty and Company said to Huffington Post. “But are
consumers buying more guns than two, three, four, five years ago?
Yes, they are.”

One reason gun makers saw such large drops in their sales is that
heavily discounted firearms have made their way into the market
as well, driving down prices and giving people alternatives as
they shop around. These cheaper weapons pose a significant threat
to traditional gun makers, so much so that Sturm, Ruger & Co.
highlighted them as a key reason for its sharp sales decline.

“Gun distributors have found cheaper manufacturers to buy
from,” Brian Ruttenbur, an analyst with CRT Capital, told
the Post. “We don’t know who it is -- because the
distributors are private and don’t share this information -- but
someone in the market is dumping product into the retail
chain."